Chinese reality talent competition Sisters Who Make Waves has been hogging the headlines lately, thanks to Taiwanese singer-actress Annie Yi, who’s one of the 30 over 30 contestants on the show. Annie found herself in the doghouse with the public after her recent appearance on a talk show, where she described the late Cantopop diva Anita Mui as “looking for love her entire life”.

Though the 52-year-old later apologised for her insensitive comments, it was too little, too late. The public had turned against her, and to add salt to her wound, new reports surfaced claiming that the production team behind Sisters Who Make Waves are pissed off with Annie too.

According to the reports, Annie had complained to the production crew about the way they edited the show, to the crew’s displeasure. In retaliation, the production crew allegedly decided to drastically reduce Annie’s screen-time for the rest of the season. A far cry from what Annie (or more accurately, her best friend) had claimed earlier on the singer-actress’s Facebook page.

The reports quoted an insider, who said: “There won’t be any screen time for Annie in the future. Upcoming promotional advertisements won't feature her as well, our collaboration will end here.”

Although the insider’s claims could not be verified, many netizens showed their support, describing Annie as “super irritating [on the show] and always spouting rubbish”. However, some also commented that it felt like there is currently a power struggle going on between the crew members of Sisters Who Make Waves, which was why the insider had given such an interview.

And that’s not all. According to the former host of the show, Chinese host Ma Rui, the final line-up for Sisters Who Make Waves has already been predetermined. The 32-year-old spilled the tea in a recent vlog, where he shared that the producers had “promised a contestant that she’ll definitely get a spot in the final five-member girl group”. Ma Rui then went on to say that between Christy Chung, Annie, Ning Jing, Adia Chan and Aduo, one of them will definitely be in the final group.

He also revealed that a few of the more established contestants on the show received their appearance fees even before the show aired, which means that they roughly know which episode they’ll get eliminated in.

He went on to share that the crew had brokered a deal with Chinese actress Ning Jing way before filming started, to ensure that the 48-year-old’s side will not request to vet through the edited footage before it airs. By making this deal with the actress, the crew effectively prevented the other contestants from requesting to look through the final product before it airs, as they plan to use Ning Jing’s showbiz veteran status to ‘intimidate’ the other contestants into withdrawing their requests to view the footage.

“[The production crew] will say, ‘Even Ning Jing doesn’t request to view the footage beforehand, [and] you want to do so?’” Ma Rui recalled.

Photos: PBE Media, Ma Rui/Weibo, Sisters Who Make Waves/Weibo, Ning Jing/Weibo